


The End

by EvalynnMesserli



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Character Death, Henry Goes Off At Joey, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 11:22:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16596926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvalynnMesserli/pseuds/EvalynnMesserli
Summary: Henry now knew what he was. He now knew what Joey had been forcing him to do. He knew everything. So, it's time for this story to end once and for all. It's time for everyone to be free.





	The End

**Author's Note:**

> So Chapter Five gave me a lot of feelings. Especially about a certain animator and his eldritch inky demon son. Thus, this fic! Enjoy!

The Final End

\---------------

It was time to end this.

Henry now knew who he was. What he was. He knew what exactly Joey had done, making him go through loop after loop of the same story to fix all of the old man’s sins, not understanding that Henry could not pay for them, but he could end the suffering. He could set them all free.

Allison and Tom stood behind him, the distance between them growing larger with every step, Henry being much farther away than he should be. He was on his own.

That was fine. He needed to do this alone anyways.

Henry entered the machine like he had hundreds of times before, searching for him. Soon he’d made it to the throne, a tape and a reel sitting on it. Hanging from the back lay two broken chains, ink dripping from them. Anger filled Henry’s heart. How could Joey do this? How could Joey do any of this?

Calm down, he told himself. Getting angry won’t solve anything. Henry took a deep breath and approached the throne. When he got there he ignored the tape and went straight for the reel, cradling the cold thing in his hands. Suddenly, the Ink Demon was there.

Henry watched as the demon’s shape changed and prepared himself for what was to come. He had to do this just right or they’d all be trapped in this hell forever.

This was his only chance.

\---------------

Henry huddle closely to the wall, the wood digging painfully into his back. His eyes frantically darted around, not looking for the switches as he normally would have, instead he was searching for the one thing that was normally everywhere in this studio: ink. Of course, the one time he needed some, it was nowhere to be found.

The Ink Demon barrelled on by, nearly hitting Henry. Nearly sending him back into the ink. If Henry died again, he wasn’t sure what would happen. Would he still remember who he was or would he forget, doomed to go through his hell again and again until finally Joey was satisfied? He didn’t know and he definitely didn’t want to find out.

Henry finally gave up on finding any ink in the halls and decided to move on to the next room. He’d have to do that anyways if he wanted his plan to work.

Please let this work.

\----------------

Sorry buddy, Henry thought as the Ink Demon slammed into the last tube, shattering it and plunging the room into darkness. Once the lights had turned on the door to the throne was open, waiting for Henry to go through, but he had one thing to do first.

Finally, he thought, dipping his finger into the ink and writing something on the reel. This would fix everything. He hoped. Now was the time to find out.

Henry entered the room and placed the reel in its place. A dark presence loomed behind him. Henry turned to face the Ink Demon, his dark hands reaching towards him. Then the screen turned on.

The Ink Demon glanced at it and then back at Henry, thinking. He decided he wanted to see the screen. Briefly Henry wondered if the Ink Demon remembered any of the previous loops. If he did then why look at the screen every time instead of leaving? Maybe he was hoping for for a different ending. Henry would be able to ask soon. If this worked.

Oh please let this work.

A single image appeared on the screen. It wasn’t the simple The End that always appeared. No, instead three words shone brightly on the screen.

The Happy End

The Ink Demon stared at the screen frozen. Henry stepped forward reaching out his hand.

“Bendy,” he said softly, placing his hand on Bendy’s back. The toon spun around to face him, surprised by this change of events. He seemed nervous.

“Bendy,” he repeated. “It’s over. We’re free.”

\---------------

Henry stepped into the kitchen. As usual, Joey stood with his back facing him and not seeming to notice that Henry had arrived, but Henry knew he was aware. He always was.

“I see you’re finally here,” Joey said. “Took your time this round. After the last couple of goes, I thought maybe you’d be early again.” 

Henry didn’t reply. He never did. Instead he tightened his hold on the shivering form in his arms.

Joey laughed bitterly. “It’s so strange, how often we’ve had this conversation. I’ve gotten so used to it I actually started when Linda walked up behind me the other day. Luckily she just thought it was the ravings of an old man.” The warmth in Joey’s voice faded. “How did this all happen Henry? All I wanted was to bring the cartoons to life and yet, so much went wrong. How could it have? Was it me? Was I what was wrong?” Joey sounded broken, but Henry had no sympathy for him. Too much had happened. He didn’t even pity the old man.

“So much has happened these last few years,” Joey continued. “You left the studio to have a family while I continued to build my crooked empire, building and building until it fell. Without you there, everything went to hell and back. Heh, you were always good at pushing me in the right direction.” Joey turned. “You should have...pushed…”

Henry couldn’t help the smug smile that spread across his face and Joey’s shocked stare. The old man looked ridiculous.

“What...is that?” he finally asked, eyes trained on the figure in Henry’s arms.

“It’s Bendy,” Henry told him. Sure enough, in his arms lay the small devil. He stared at Joey nervously, not trusting the old man.

“I-wha-how?” Joey sputtered. Henry laughed quietly to himself.

“Hey buddy, look,” Henry told Bendy. “Old Joey looks like a lobster.” Bendy’s whistle laugh rang through the room, causing Joey’s face to become even redder than it currently was.

“Henry, what is that?” Joey asked again. 

“I already told you, it’s Bendy. Say hi to the old fart, Bendy.” Bendy laughed again and waved at Joey who was starting to resemble a tomato at this point.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” Joey growled. “How did he get here?”

“Simple: he’s the Ink Demon.”

“Ha!” Joey laughed. “He’s not that thing that came out of machine all those years ago. That demon caused my studio’s ruin!” Joey gestured to Bendy. “He would have saved it!”

Henry’s blood boiled.

“Listen here Joey,” he snarled. “Like it or not, this is Bendy. This is the Ink Demon that you so desperately cast as the villain in your little story. The reason you couldn’t really bring him to life, not fully, was because you never cared about him. You never had any kind of connection with him or any of the other toons. You just wanted money, fame, and power, and you didn’t care who you had to hurt. Tell me, what happened to Susie? Norman? Grant, Bertram, Lacie? Any others you decided to use as your puppets?”

“Now Henry-” Joey protested, but Henry cut him off.

“No, I’m done hearing your story. I’ve heard it hundreds of times and it’s always the same: you force others to pay for your sins and don’t you dare try to deny it. You like to place yourself on a pedestal and call everyone beneath you worms, but guess what, that doesn’t mean anything special. It just means that you’re a hypocrite. A lying, murderous hypocrite and we’re done being your pawns. We’re leaving.”

“You can’t leave,” Joey protested. “You won’t last long out there. You need the Ink Machine to survive. You have to stay!”

“So if we leave we’ll eventually disappear from this hellish existence you’ve forced upon us? Sounds great to me! What about you Bendy?” Bendy nodded and smiled softly at the thought of finally escaping. 

“What about everyone else? You don’t want to leave them behind do you?” Joey was getting desperate. Henry could see it in his eyes.

“Go see for yourself. Without a hero or a villain the story has no direction. The souls you’ve trapped are free. Your crooked empire has finally fallen. As usual, the actual villain lost.”

“I am not the villain!” Joey shouted. “He is! I’m just trying to fix everything!” 

“Sure you are.” Henry turned around. He was ready to go. He had someone he needed to see. “Let’s go buddy.”

Joey’s protests rang out behind the two as they left, ready to do their finale objective. After that, well, neither was a hundred percent sure, but neither was afraid. After what they’d been through, death didn’t seem so scary. Just, somewhere new. Somewhere better.

\---------------

By some miracle, she still lived in the same place.

When Linda opened the door, Henry forgot the entire speech he had planned. He was suddenly filled with immense joy and heartbreaking sadness. He’d wanted to see her for so long, yet this was the last time he ever would. He had to make it count.

“I-wha-Henry?” she gawked as Henry grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug with his free arm, burying his face into her neck and just holding her for a moment. Finally he pulled away and smiled sadly. She was just as beautiful as always.

“I don’t have much time, but I needed to see you once last time.”

“Wait-what’s going on? Hen-”

Henry cupped her face in his hand. “I love you,” he whispered before quickly and gently pushing her back, closing the door, and running like hell. By the time she’d recovered enough to open it up and try and chase after him, he was long gone.

\---------------

Henry sat silently on the bench, Bendy sitting besides him, swinging his legs. The two just wanted to watch the sunset, waiting for it to be over.

“You know, I never thought I’d escape that place,” Henry said, eyes trained on the colorful sky. “Even if I didn’t remember all the times I had already gone through the loop, a part of me gave up any and all hope of freedom. Yet, here we are, ready to finally be free.” He frowned slightly. “Hey Bendy.” The cartoon devil looked at him. “Do you really want to do this?”

Bendy thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to do something you don’t want to. I want you to have a choice.”

Bendy scooted closer to Henry in response, curling up close to his side. Henry placed his arm around the small toon and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Henry whispered. "For all the times I had to hurt you." Bendy laughed quietly and snuggled closer, silently telling his creator that all was forgiven.

And they waited.

\---------------

For the first time ever, Bendy was happy.

Ever since he was born, he had been alone. And sad. Alone and sad. No one had wanted him, simply because he hadn’t been perfect. Just because he hadn’t looked like he was supposed to. It wasn’t his fault though! It was just how he was! But no one saw that. They just saw a monster. A horrible and disgusting and bad and wrong monster.

Bendy had always known who Henry was. He was his creator. He was also the one who left. Bendy didn’t like to admit it, but he had been really really angry at Henry for a long long time. He’d felt betrayed and abandoned and when Henry had started to attack him and tried to end him, he'd felt afraid. 

He now knew that Henry hadn’t been trying to hurt him. It had been Joey. Joey had made him incomplete and empty. Joey had shunned him. Joey had locked him up. Joey had impaled his hands with chains to keep him in one place. Joey had casted him as the villain. Henry had been innocent. His only crime was not being aware of what was happening and Bendy couldn’t be mad at him for that. Besides, Henry had saved him.

Henry had given him a Happy End and gave him love and part of his soul. Part of himself. Bendy had finally achieved the form that he had so poorly tried to imitate before. The form that he had surrounded his room with. Henry had given him that. Henry had stopped the pain. He had more than made up for any mistakes.

“Hey there buddy,” Henry had whispered once Bendy had finally finally reformed correctly. “There’s the little devil darling I remember.” At those words, Bendy had started crying, his permanent smile gone. His cheeks and his hands had hurt so much, but the pain was slowly fading. The only sensation that he had been able to focus on at that moment was Henry’s arms around him. Tightly squeezing him as he sobbed. Making him feel welcomed and at home.

Bendy wasn’t afraid of Death. He’d lived too horrible of an existence to fear such a thing. Even so, he was glad that Henry was going to be there with him. They would be together until the end of time. They shared a soul now after all.

Bendy wished he could talk. He wished he could tell Henry not to worry. He wished he could say that he wasn’t afraid and that this is what he wanted. That he wanted to face whatever came next together. As he couldn’t, however, he settled for burying himself against Henry’s side and allowing himself to relax into the warm and protective arm around him. 

And together, Father and Son waited for the sun to finally set.

\---------------

The Happy End


End file.
